The invention is directed toward a hinge assembly for a hood or lid covering an outdoor cooking device, such as a roasting oven, rotisserie, smoker or grill.
Large volume outdoor cooking devices are commonly employed at picnics and other social gatherings when a great number of portions of food are to be prepared. One such cooking device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,762, issued Apr. 17, 1984, to the present inventor. The meat roaster shown therein provides a firebox and means for supporting charcoal, and the like, below a removable spit basket, rotisserie or grill. When necessary, a lid is utilized to cover the items while they are being cooked. As shown in said patent, one previous technique for pivotably supporting the lid is by means of piano-type hinges affixed between the lid and the back wall of the firebox. Support rods have been utilized to stabilize the lid when open, as well as the provision of locking arm means for maintaining the lid in the open position so that the cook may inspect the food.
Other outdoor cooking ovens have also utilized unhinged lids, which simply provide handles at opposite sides of the lid so that the lid may be lifted onto or from the device.
As will be clear, such oven lids are necessarily constructed of sturdy and heat resistant metal, such as 12 to 16 gauge steel. These lids are therefore relatively heavy and, if pivotable, require a very secure and strong hinge.
Although piano-type hinges provide for the pivoting of a lid, they do not allow for the removability of the lid from the cooking device when such might be desired.
It would be very desirable to provide a hinge assembly for a lid that allows the lid to be both removable and also capable of being securely supported in the open position while the chef is otherwise involved in the preparation of the food items.
It is also a goal to provide a hinge assembly that permits one individual to easily open and close the lid without great effort even though the lid may weigh up to one hundred pounds or more.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a hinge assembly that utilizes two pivot pins to achieve sequential pivoting at each for a controlled motion into and out of the closed arrangement over the cooking device.
It is further desirable to provide a latching means for securing the hinge assembly, and thereby the lid, in the open position.
A further objective is to provide a hinge assembly that has a fixed hinge leaf secured to the firebox and a double-plate movable hinge leaf secured to the hood, wherein the fixed and movable leaves are fully separable in a facile upward motion.
In satifying these goals, it would also be of great benefit to provide a sturdy but relatively inexpensive hinge assembly that does not require any other locking or guiding means between the lid and the oven.
It is also a concomitant goal to simply provide two hinge assemblies at spaced-apart locations on the back of the oven and lid in order to reduce the manufacturing cost, weight and bulkiness of the cooking device.
The foregoing objects and goals are satisified by the provision of a hinge assembly which comprises a pair of parallel plates forming a movable hinge leaf wherein the plates are interconnected by two spaced-apart pivot pins extending therethrough. The movable hinge leaf is attached to the hood of the oven. The pivot pins being cooperative with a single-plate fixed hinge leaf which is secured to the back of the oven fire wall. The fixed hinge leaf includes an open slot means that is formed to provide three pocket portions, referenced A, B and C, and connected by a continuous slot edge, which provide for the selective engagement of the pivot pins. Two of the pockets, A and B, are concave upwardly and the other, C, is concave downwardly. The centers of the pockets form an imaginary isosceles triangle and a lower pivot pin of the movable hinge leaf is movable along an arcuate portion of said continuous slot edge between two of the pockets, B and C, which are located at the corners of the base leg of the isosceles triangle. The arcuate portion of the slot edge has a radius centered at the center of pocket A. The pocket A is located at the apex of the isosceles triangle. Said pivot pins each being pivotable in sequence at each of said concave upward pockets A and B. The concave downward pocket C is a pivot stop for the lower pivot pin when the lid is in the open position.
The pivot pockets A and B, in which the pivot pins rotate, are joined by a straight edge tangential portion of the slot means which creates a slide for the lower pivot pin and defines, in part, an upwardly open passage of said slot means whereby the lower pivot pin may be slid outwardly of the slot means in order to disengage the movable hinge leaf, and thereby the hood, from the fixed hinge leaf. The hood includes front and side handle means facilitating the pivoting and removal of the hood. Said hinge plates, which form the movable hinge leaf, provide a spacing therebetween whereby to pass on opposite sides of the fixed hinge leaf during rotation of the pivot pins and are preferably spaced only so far as to allow for clearance with the fixed hinge leaf so to thereby also provide lateral rigidity to the hinge assembly.
The fixed hinge leaf optionally includes a pivoting latch arm having a hooked end rotatable in an arc, whereby to engage the upper pivot pin when the hood is in the open position. The upper pivot pin has an extended length to be longer than the other, whereby to project outwardly of the pair of plates in order to enable engagement with the latch arm sidewardly of the pair of plates forming the movable hinge leaf.